Importance Of Montreal

So Montreal is in, Joey Saputo finally gets his Major League Soccer team starting in 2012.

Their home Saputo Stadium will undergo an upgrade thanks to the local government and to the club’s owner Saputo. They will be adding 7,000 seats to Saputo Stadium, raising its capacity to 20,000. Also, they will make improvements that include new amenities, additional permanent seats, widened concourses and new player facilities

We knew this deal was close to happening and today it finally came true. One good thing to hear is that the stadium won’t have to install new grass, they already have natural grass on their pitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAHIOVOOcCU&feature=player_embedded

(Ignore the cheesy music, but this will give you a sense of what will happen to their stadium)

Canada now will have three clubs in 2012. I can’t stress how big that is for the league and for Canadian soccer. It will help grow the sport on both sides.

I’ll be honest about this, adding Montreal in 2012 for MLS is big. Not only does it bring in another soccer-hungry market but it also brings in another language for the league. Some may call it annoying to have to worry about three languages for this league but believe me adding French will help this league grow.

Yes we have to brush up on our French here but that’s an okay thing by me (I took three years of it so I do recall some).

Montreal has a good history with the game too and they do know how to pack a stadium for their club. No doubt they’ll fill this stadium similar to Toronto. Speaking of TFC, this club adds another rival to the league. Sure Vancouver will be a rival next year for TFC but Montreal will be an even bigger one to them, definitely more heated. Also fans in Columbus, New York and Philadelphia will see them as a rival too.

This move made sense to the league and now the next move for club number 20 has to be the same calculated move. MLS commissionar Don Garber continues to say going back to the Southeast is a big deal for the league but until the perfect situation comes up there it makes little sense to focus on that region just yet. I’ll worry you with who the next club should be another time, for now its all about Montreal.